The present invention relates to a guide for pieces of fabric that include accessories such as pockets, belts, etc., in a sewing unit having a conventional sewing machine equipped with a needle and known types of feeding mechanisms which define a sewing axis along which the pieces of fabric are advanced in order to be assembled.
Conventional sewing machines are also provided with guides consisting of plates which are disposed one above the other and spaced apart from one another so as to form separate channels in which the pieces of fabric to be joined together are guided so as to enable them to slide separately during the sewing operation.
These guides, which are normally located in the vicinity of the sewing machine needle, are adapted to guide the pieces of fabric towards the needle in a manner to match their respective edges and to orient them with respect to the sewing axis according to the particular outer profile of the workpiece.
Consequently, the above mentioned means of joining together pieces of fabric is carried out in such a way that the pockets, which have already been attached, present an obstacle when the pieces of fabric are being advanced between the plates which form the guide. It is therefore necessary to carry out two preliminary operations: the first is that of temporarily removing the guide from the zone of passage of the pieces of fabric when the part containing a pocket is being sewn.
It is necessary to remove the guide in this manner to prevent the intermediate plate of the guide, which separates the pieces of fabric, from being inserted in one of the pockets, which, as is known, are disposed between said pieces of fabric, and which would prevent the pieces of fabric from sliding freely in the guide.
The second preliminary operation is that of manually guiding the pieces of fabric when stitching those portions provided with pockets so as to maintain the pieces of fabric correctly oriented and matched when the guide has been removed.
These preliminary operations are responsible for what is considered a considerable loss of time relative to the total sewing time which prevents the operator from performing other preparatory operations on other pieces of fabric to be assembled or from loading other sewing units.
The returning of the guide to the zone of passage of the pieces of fabric is normally accomplished by a pneumatic control means and necessitates special attention by the operator to assure that the pieces of fabric are correctly inserted in their respective guide channels.
The object of the present invention is to eliminate the aforementioned preliminary operations and also eliminate the delayed insertion of the pieces of fabric in the guide when the work cycle is already in progress.
The technical problem to be solved in order to achieve this object is that of inserting the pieces of fabric to be assembled in the guide before commencing the work cycle by placing the guide per se in a position in which it will not interfere with accessories which were previously attached to the pieces of fabric.